Bloody Roar
Bloody Roar is a brawler video game developed by Eighting/Raizing, and released July 7, 1997. It started out as an arcade game under the name 'Beastorizer' in North America. After popularity grew with console games, Japan ported it to the Playstation 1 November 6, 1997. North America caught up with Japan and ported the popular game October 31, 1997. Afterwards, Europe caught up with the hype, porting it for themselves on March 1998. A specific date could not be found for the Europe release. Bloody Roar series differs from other fighting games as every character has a beast mode that can be used to use new attacks, recover some of lost health and generally to be faster or/and more powerful with their attacks. This is the first game in the series, which later produced four sequels on multiple platforms. __TOC__ Plot "The unrelenting call of the wild courses through my body. The tremble of these fingers cannot be stopped. The real me...The facade of﻿ a man crumbles and my true self awakens with a primal scream." Tylon, a bio-corparation, uses human hostages as the basis for its "Zoanthropes" - genetically altered super beast-beings. The industrial giant uses its creations as advance troops in global military invasions. Yugo, a wolf zoanthrope, Tries to avenge his Father, Who was previously killed in a war against the multinational organization. He meets Gado, An old comrade in arms. Together they promise to destroy Tylon and liberate all the hostages and put an end to tylon's brutal experiments. However, It's not counting Uriko, The Chimera, A secret weapon of Tylon. The battle against Uriko was not easy but Yugo was supported by Gado and Alice, And young hostages who knew Uriko before her brainwashing by Tylon and together they restore Uriko's conscience. Tylon is annihilated, The zoanthropes come back alive and the story goes on. Gameplay Bloody Roar's control system was a simple combination of the traditional fighting game set up. A button used for 'punch' and a button used for 'kick'. A combination between the two could create different attack moves while combining both together would trigger a unique 'throw' move. Its originality came with the use of the 'beast' button. Under the life bar, was a beast gauge. When filled up, pressing the beast button would transform the played character into their powerful and more agile animal form. The beast button could be used after that as a part of the attack arsenal. Attacks on the beast form would deduct from the beast gauge, though would still do some damage to the life bar on a decreased level. The beast transformation would end when the beast gauge was completely depleted. Also, within beast form, the rave button became available - this is the early version of the 'hyper beast' form which would appear later in the series. The rave button eliminated recovery time between combos and gave the characters ten times the speed, though this was at the cost of the beast bar. When it ran out, one hit could break the beast transformation. Battles would last for two rounds (three, culminating in a 'Final Round' if both characters scored a win in each of the first two rounds) and end with a 'K.O.' when the life bar was completely emptied. Game Features * Arcade - Challenge 8 constestant controlled by the computer before the Final Fight against Uriko. Win all the matchs offers a ending cinematic peculiar to each fighters. * VS -''' (Versus) You can defy another player or the computer in a match. * '''Extra - '''Others fighting modes. ** Time Attack ** Survival ** Practice * Watch * Records * Beast Rave (On/Off) * Options ** Game Options ** Sound Options ** Memory Card ** Art Gallery ** Bonus Mode Characters Playable Fighters *Yugo the Wolf - Yugo Ogami is a young wolf zoanthrope on a quest to uncover the circumstances of his father's death. His father, Yūji Ōgami, was a mercenary said to have died in combat in a South American country. Yūgo also seeks the mercenary Gadou, the sole survivor of Yūji's combat unit. *Alice the Rabbit - Alice Tsukagami is a rabbit zoanthrope who was kidnapped as a child by a secret research institution that conspired to use zoanthropes as weapons. After being subjected to physical experimentation, her latent powers were awakened, after which she was used as a test subject and given battle training. However, she managed to escape the institution before being brainwashed, earning herself the freedom she had long sought. While hiding herself to regain her composure, she began to worry about a girl that Alice befriended in the institution. Because the girl sacrificed herself by distracting Alice's pursuers during her escape, Alice decided to come out of hiding and fight against the institution. *Gado the Lion - Alan Gado is a French lion zoanthrope, a professional mercenary and military genius who took part in a mission in a South America country. On that day, his union of armies was crushed by a combined force of superior zoanthropes and a hostile army that appeared out of nowhere. Gado was seriously injured in the battle and lost his sight in one eye. Afterward, he went off to search for Yūji and discover the identity of the enemy, Tylon Corporation. *Long the Tiger - Jin Long is a Chinese tiger zoanthrope who curses his fate and zoanthrope blood. When he was a child, his mother and younger sister died one after the other. Neglected by his workaholic father, Long ran away from his home. Afterward, his great skills in the martial arts and zoanthrope powers brought him recognition, and he was enlisted by an underground assassination unit. *Bakuryu the Mole - Bakuryu is a mole zoanthrope and a self-styled master of the traditional ninja arts. His personal details are veiled in secrecy and his existence is a mystery. An expert in assassination, he was enlisted in an infamous ungerground organization and put in charge of sabotage and the abduction of zoanthropes for experimentation. *Hans the Fox - Hans Taubemann is an English fox zoanthrope with a warped mind and heightened aesthetic sense. He is obsessed with beauty and despises ugly things, boasting of his good looks and publicly declaring all else ugly. Abandoned as a child and raised in the slums, he grew up into a well-known scoundrel. He earned the nickname of Fox from his wariness and cruelty in beating up even the very weakest. He works for the Organization in the same unit as Bakuryū and engages in such activities as kidnapping and murder. *Mitsuko the Boar - Mitsuko Nonomura is a Wild Sow zoanthrope and everyday housewive with a massive body and generous nature. After her daughter (who is also a zoanthrope) was abducted, she went on a quest to find her, the only clue being the kidnapper's steely eyes and insanely sardonic grin. *Greg the Gorilla - Gregory Jones is an American gorilla zoanthrope who, in his youth, fulfilled his hope of running away to join a circus. Having a great talent for handling animals, he later took charge of the circus after the ringmaster retired. But with the rapid changes in the entertainment industry, the circus eventually went bankrupt and its members parted ways. Unplayable Fighters * 'Uriko the Chimera - '''Uriko was kidnapped by Tylon as a child to be used in an experiment that created super beast soldiers. She was brainwashed and converted into the body of a woman that stored the power of a synthetic transformation known as 'Werechimera'. She's the final challenger in the Arcade mode. Stages * Colosseum * Seaside * Nuclear Plant * IronWorks * Ruin in S.A. (South America) * 'Sunset Bridge - It's a wood platform in the center of a miedeval village with a rocky montain landscape. * Under Highway * Desert * Tylon Lab - Only avaible in the Arcade Mode against Uriko. It's an arena surrounded with glass barriers. Herself in the center of a dark metallic piece with multiple red lights. * Large area * Small area Unlockables * Alter Your Character's Appearance : ** Giant Characters: Hold L2 while you select your character. ** Meaty Arms: Hold L1 and L2 while selecting your character. ** Big Head: Hold L2 and select your character with CIRCLE or X ** Kid mode: Hold R2 and select your character with CIRCLE or X * Afterimage Mode: Beat the game with everybody to access afterimage mode. The game is the same, but your character will have a shadow behind him. * Bonus Options: Beat the game on level 4 or higher to unlock more options on the Bonus menu. * Change Camera Angle: Beat the game with Alice, level 4 or better. Now you can change the camera angle, but not during battle. You can only do this at the option screen. * Invisible Walls: Beat the game with Fox, level 4 or better, to play without the walls showing. The walls will still be there, it's just that they're clear. * Large Arena: Beat ten opponents in a row in the Survival Mode to increase the size of the battle field. * Life Recovery: Beat the game with Bakuryu on level 4 or above for regenerating life bars. * Meaty Arms : Beat the game with no continues on Level 4 or above to give your characters larger arms. * No Guage Mode: Beat the game with Yugo, level 4 or better. * No Guard Mode: Beat the game with Gado, level 4 or better, to play your games without any defense. * No Lightning: Beat the game with Long, Level 4 or better, to stop the lightning effects when doing certain moves. * Play as Sailor Alice: Beat all opponents in Time Attack Mode in under ten minutes to chage Alice's outfit. Beastorize Bloody Roar was originally developed as an arcade game. It was later adapted for the PlayStation. The arcade version was released on July 7, 1997 and was titled Beastorizer in North America. The housing in which the arcade game's hardward resided was a horizontal cabinet type. The Arcade appears total same to Bloody Roar, but with simplified screens and credits and an unique mode arcade with the possibility for a second player to interrupt and oppose the first player. The controls however, are slight bit more complicated, and should cell to an 8-way joystick and 6 buttons. Though some machines are said to have only 3 buttons, since the original "Grab/ Throw" move was just the "P+K" combination. Eventually, the game did in fact change it's name to "Bloody Roar", supposedly due to more proper translation purpose. Reception Bloody Roar received generally positive reviews from critics. The game has sold 390 000 copies around the world. His biggest competitor around it release date, Tekken 3, has sold 7.16 millions of copies. Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot stated that the game's graphics were "every bit as good as the arcade version". Douglass Perry of IGN noted that the graphics had "great shadows" and "detailed textures in both the background and on the characters", but added that while the character design was "cool-looking", it was not "addictive or moving". Gerstmann said that the game "runs fast and very smoothly" and that the game's moves are "very dynamic, resulting in a lot of oohs and aahs as a wolf bites a chunk out of his opponent's neck and blood spurts everywhere, splattering on the ground." Perry noted that the "high frame rates and a speedy graphic engine enable moves to be executed quickly and without wait." Gerstmann passed the music off as "typical fighting game fare", while Perry admitted that he "actually liked half of the tunes, while half of them sound like they've been ripped off from forgettable '80s heavy metal tunes." Gerstmann said that the sound effects were "really great", while Perry noted that the only character sounds he found annoying were those from the character Alice, comparing her to both a "broken record" and Demonica from the Nintendo 64 video game Dark Rift. The game's success resulted in its re-release for The Best range on October 14, 1999. Bloody Roar was re-released on the PlayStation Network in North America on August 20, 2009. Promotion Two differents TV spot was diffused one for the Japanese market and another for the North American market. rov1_zps4a264083.png Packaging Artwork 936full-bloody-roar-cover.jpg|PlayStation PAL Release ME0000778014_2.jpg|Playstation PAL Release (back) cover-front.jpg|PlayStation NA Release cover-back.jpg|Playstation NA Release (back) 02395e319238655c2015928ed32acc69.jpg|Playstation JAP Release Beastorizer_-_1997_-_Eighting.jpg|Beastorizer Arcade Station Official Artworks See: Bloody Roar (official artwork) Triva *In the Art Gallery, we can see some unused characters like a Blond woman cat Zoanthrope, an Native american bull Zoanthrope, ... See the Official Artwork session for the pictures in question. Links *FAQ on Game Radar *Bloody Roar (Eighting) Official Site Category:Games